Task 5 - Development

‘The alchemy of the analogue is more unpredictable, and therefore more alluring.’

What is communicated by the quote?

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analogue work is more admirable

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more time and labour put into analogue work through the process which makes it more appealing, interesting and exciting

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What is my focus?

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CRAFT as the analogue

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The differences between analogue and digital

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What is it that does in fact make the ‘analogue’ more ‘alluring’?

nostalgic more mystical and unknown

WHY DO WE VALUE CRAFT?

Article on eye Magic box: craft and the computer David Crow Key quotes •

“The hand is an important metaphorical signal for the presence of the individual craft, and is central in the symbolism surrounding the historic tension between man and machine, and more recently between global and local culture.”

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“Experiment and play are vital in craft practice. Play lets you learn, which is why it still lies at the heart of art and design education. And the computer can very effectively introduce play; digital media, with their instant reversibility and ability to simulate, can withstand sustained experimentation where other formats would disintegrate.”

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‘No machine could replace the sensitivity of hands.’ - hands were celebrated (arts and crafts movement 1960-1915) as capable of probing the world, bringing a unity of working and learning

Relation to chosen quote •

importance of hands and how no machine can replace them

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discusses a lot about the movements in art and crafts and the effects of them

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Today a wide range of tools and mediums used, artists and designers will engage with ideas surrounding each practice

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EXPERIMENTAL AND PLAY ARE VITAL IN CRAFT PRACTICE

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Survival of craft practice and importance of technology to keep it going

Book The Craftsman - Richard Sennett Who is the author? Is it a reliable source?

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prime observer of society

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american

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pragmatist who turns nitty gritty of daily life into a discussion on morality

Knowledge and interests • • • • • •

architecture design literature social life of cities sociologist-philosopher musician

Points in the book •

the desire to do a job well for its own sake

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book about ‘perfection skills’ and desire to do things well

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argues in a fascinating way that, while we are working, submerged processes of thought and feeling are in progress

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‘the best craftsmanship relies on a continuing involvement’

Book The Craftsman - Richard Sennett continued…

Quotes •

‘the enlightened way to use a machine is to judge its powers, fashion its uses, in light of our own limits rather than the machines potential. We should not compete against the machine.’

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later in the mid 19th century, panic set in as more machines spewed out more goods in what seemed to social critics a reckless abandon of luxury and waste.

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“To the absolutist in every craftsman, each imperfection is a failure; to the practitioner, obsession with perfection seems a perception for failure.”

Sennett on John Ruskin •

Sennett loves the strange immediacy of Ruskin’s writing pointing out that his prose has ‘an almost hypnotic tactile power, making the reader feel the damp moss on an old stone or see the dust in sun-lit streets.’

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Sennett views him as a man deeply aware of his own sensations and experience • magic human movements no machine can replicate

Book Typewriter art: a modern anthology Barrie Tullett Typewriter: A Modern Anthology •

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investigates the aesthetics of the handmade • for her, inspiration cannot be found on a screen but only in the physical exploration and making of tactile forms. the pattern series • asks viewer to consider the physicality of manual mark making in our increasingly digitalised world. tactile - the feel of the keys and the qualities produced • touch of a finger on keys will alter the weight of the strike NO EDITS NO ALTERATIONS NO ADDITIONS

Artist

Vickie Simpson An Automatic Machine

‘The crux of the project was to combine photocopies with the manual process of screenprinting.’

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“I create experimental and tangible pieces of print. At the moment I am exploring typewriter art. This interest developed further after I left university and when facilities like letterpress, screen-printing, and photocopiers were cruelly parted from me. Typewriters are so accessible (I own four and the total spend was less than £15) and like photocopiers their primary function is only the start of their possibilities.

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“The project that resulted in An Automatic Machine was based around interviews I conducted with various designers, exploring their view on how hand controlled, mechanical processes like photocopiers are a form of art in their own right.

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“I selected quotes from these interviews and designed a set of posters and a publication.

These were produced via inexpensive hand-operated and experimental methods of production. I guess it was a quiet rebellion against the high-tech digital age we are part of.

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“The process led the design rather than the other way around. I printed a set of quotes and then individually manipulated the paper on a photocopier; these prints were then screenprinted in either blue or red. The crux of the project was to combine photocopies with the manual process of screen-printing. It was a way of showing just how remarkable low budget printed matter can be.”

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“From a personal point of view I get frustrated with computer screens and have a serious love hate relationship with technology, even though as a graphic designer it is integral to my practice. I spend most days on a computer and, don’t get me wrong, most of the time it’s great, but an integral part of who I am as a designer is to sometimes step away from the Mac and make stuff.

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“Even though the outcome is occasionally terrible, and gets thrown out, for me it is more about the physical process and if a gem is created along the way then that’s an added bonus.”

Info: Vickie Simpson is a graphic designer from Manchester. She utilises a combination of drawing, collage, scan, photocopier, typewriter and manual printing techniques to craft experimental and tangible pieces of print.

Artist - Kiera Rathbone Book - Typewriter art: a modern anthology Barrie Tullett Interview with Kiera Rathbone included in book found in LCA library. I have picked out what I find the most interesting and relevant questions and answers to my chosen quote/theme.

Examples of her work…

What draws you to such a ‘restricted’ medium? Is that the right word, or should it be ‘specialist’, ‘liberating’, ‘mechanical’?

‘Restricted’ is the perfect word. I love having restrictions as they breed creativity - overcoming being told you can’t, but quietly doing it anyway.

Is the performance element to your work (drawing on stage, etc) something you’ve always been interested in?

I never set out to be a performance artist, but I realised that the simple act of typing, when done in public, becomes a performance whether you like it or not. When I started typing in public I realised how unique my chosen practice really was, and the reactions I got caused my performance to evolve over the years. Since moving to London I have had even more ideas for where I want to take it…

The Lo-Fi Phenomenon – Analogue versus Digital in the Creative Process Phil Taylor “Undergraduate students at the University of Brighton, particularly those of a younger generation, are not drawn to using the latest technology in perhaps the same way that practitioners who received their degrees in the pre-digital 1980’s era are? These students are not impressed by how fast something can be achieved digitally, or how efficient personal computers are today.”

“They have grown up with computers, they already know what the Wizard of Oz looks like, and which levers he pulls before the story begins. They are increasingly interested in the analogue, the 16mm Cine film, the old typewriter etc. At the University of Brighton there is a fully equipped traditional letterpress facility – it is one of the most popular resources in the building with students from a variety of disciplines.” “the magic of the digital does not matter” “This is echoed in the creative professional world with a noticeable trend for young illustrators and filmmakers to increasingly explore analogue animation techniques that are less polished in their aesthetic qualities than CGI. The popularity of these techniques in the commercial entertainment industry is also undisputed with the recent highly successful film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ (directed by Wes Anderson, 2009) for example.” “‘Impatience’ is a topical term in our digital age, the (Utopian) expectation is that digital technology will help us to live our lives in a more fluid, efficient manner, thus freeing up more leisure time, whereas in reality we experience information overload via a mass of digital technologies that pervades our societies public and work spaces. During the research project a number of interviewees expressed impatience with digital technology (the ‘tyranny of the email’ for example) and constant pressure to upgrade and keep up to date.”

“Perhaps one of the reasons why art, design & music students are interested in analogue ways of working is that the software and hardware industry uses a relentless ‘upgrade me’ approach to sell their products – the latest version is always going to be better, faster – therefore an ‘expectation’ is built into the use of that product (as with new technology in a broader sense), and invariably, it will disappoint to some degree.”

“An old film camera is challenging and perhaps arresting as part of the creative process because of its limitations – what it can’t do contributes to the process and the outcome.”

LINE/ SHAPE Simple line drawings of things from my pencil case. “No machine could replace the sensitivity of hands.�

I wanted to use the concertina book to its fullest and work across several pages to create a fluid design. I started with a repeated line to show the sensitivity of hands and wanted it to look almost frail as it become broken and slowly morphed into a new shape. My intention was to translate the ‘unpredictability’ of analogue and how the movement of a hand can change so quickly‌